Thursday, October 21, 2010

"... To believe the truth is to venture onto the holy ground of reality and not the fantasy of well-formed ideas. On holy ground we remove our shoes and remain silent – giving voice to words of praise letting words possess integrity. It is a very difficult thing indeed."

Would that bloggers across the Christian spectrum cared more about truth and less about the fantasy of their own well-formed ideas, (and about the importance of publishing these ideas), I might have a renewed interest in reading again some of the blogs I've long ago abandoned.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

I'm not unaware - and I'm wagering that most sensible Americans are not unaware either.

Today is the third time I saw this post on Facebook (or a post very similar to this):

Okay, folks---I have finally had enough. God doesn't give a flying rats ass who slept with whom last night--what I think really pisses God off is that 30,000 CHILDREN died of malnutrition last night, and most of us are so busy worrying about whose sleeping with who, that we don't give a shit. And what's REALLY pissing God off right now is that many people who are reading this are more shocked by my language than they are that 30,000 CHILDREN DIED LAST NIGHT OF HUNGER! (and, by the way, another 30,000 children will die of hunger tonight).

And many of my well-meaning FB women friends have posted (ad nauseum) a simple line stating "where they like to put their purse" when they come home (intended to be read as a provocative metaphor for where they like to have sex) - or better yet, last year's titilating meme about what color the bra that they are wearing is - all posted in the name of "breast cancer awareness."

Who is not aware that many die of hunger in this country and around the world every day?
Whose life has not been affected in some way by cancer? Who is unaware of it?
And most importantly, what makes well-meaning people feel that they have really done anything to help solve these problems by "raising awareness" of that which everyone is already aware?

As far as I can tell, such memes and posts and "awareness-raising" exercises do absolutely nothing to help anyone who is hungry or who has breast cancer. All such things do is raise awareness of the person who posted it.

Really want to do something concrete to help with the problem of hunger or breast cancer? Put away your righteous indignation and your junior-high-locker-room-mentality fixation on sex and get your wallet out - or step up to the plate to volunteer your time to agencies who are always in need of hands on help. Buy a bag of groceries or two for your local food shelf and bring them there. Contact the American Cancer Society and be a neighborhood door-to-door collector for the cause. Leave the FB "share" button unclicked and the worthless memes without comment and do something real.

The "awareness-raising" blather and sharing is useless and meaningless.

(BTW - my 16 year-old son has one of the wrist bands in the photo above. Think it's because of his great concern for the problem of breast cancer?)